Sunday, November 11, 2012

UTMB Post Race Report

Team Honey Badger Pre Race Photo

Well it's only taken me 2 1/2 months to get around to posting to my blog on the race in Chamonix. The word of the race was "WEATHER". The weather turned sour the day before the race making certain of the mountain passes...unpassable. As a result the course was modified and instead of racing 104 miles the course was shortened and we only ran about 70 miles.

The race start was delayed and we began the race in the congested streets of Chamonix at about 6:30PM. Ray, Tim, Scott, Francisco, Patrick and I attempted to stay together as a group which was nice in theory but hard to execute to. After the first 7 miles or so, I stayed back with Francisco, while the rest of the group pushed on.

Francisco attempting to look tough at 5 foot 2 inches

The weather went from bad to worse. After night fall it began to sleet and snow on us which turned back to rain and dense, dense fog. The climbs and descents were all they were made out to be and more. Because the course was essentially a mud pit, it created a lot more stress on the quads as you tried to maintain your balance.

Chamonix Checking In

Making cutoffs became uncertain at about 25 miles in and it became more apparent that getting Francisco to the mile 38 cutoff looked bleak. I made the decision at this point to go on without Francisco as he told me to go on without him. In hind sight this was a mistake and I should've waited for him at the cutoff aid station. He actually made the cutoff, but feet were wet and cold and caused him to DNF. At this point I decided to begin to push it hard to try to catch the rest of the group that was about 2.5-3 hours in front of me. I really thought that I could catch the guys as I had been holding back with Francisco for the first half of the race.

Oh no INS!!!!

By 10:30AM the next morning I made my way through the streets of the village where we were staying where I met up with my awesome crew. They had a dry pair of shoes, socks and food. The weather had broke and the sun came out. It was a beautiful morning after a night from hell. The remainder of the day was just as nice and the trails cleared up and it was a nice last 25 miles. As I worked hard to catch the group I passed a lot of other runners and was feeling pretty good.

The 3 Amigos post race

I ended up making it through the course in a little of 24 hours and there is no question that I could've done the entire course. It was interesting that my forced early course management with francisco had allowed me to be very strong late in the race. Other 100's that I've run I've raced too hard too early leaving the late stages of the race at risk. This was a great lesson.

The rest of the guys finished 3 hours or so in front of me, except for Patrick who was forced to drop from the race due to an injury. It was a great finish running through the fan filled streets of Chamonix. My crew (Daley & Laura) did a great job and look forward to more races with them. I definitely want to go back to complete the entire course next year.

Post race in Italy

Overall assessment: No injuries. Quads were cooked due to the downhills and unstable trails. Need to train more on downhills and building of quads. Nutrition was good, never really had a bonk as i was able to rest quite a bit during the first 38 miles which really set me up for the next 32 miles. Crew was very very important, not so much for nutrition but for gear due to the challenging weather conditions. The house that we rented was great, just outside of town. Got to chill out pre race. It would be nice to take the family back there for the race.

Next race in the queue was the Berlin marathon......

Cheers!

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Chamonix-Mont Blanc, France...The Americans have Arrived!!

Arrived on Tuesday at 7:35AM, local time, into Geneva Switzerland on a United flight via Newark, NJ with Francisco. Read the book, "Unbroken", on the way over. A great book to read before an event like UTMB, makes such an effort seem so small.

So back to the weather before I talk about the race preparation. The weather here is very volatile. Sunny, then cloudy, then raining, then cloudy, a little bit of sun, then cloudy, then sunny, the hot, then cold and raining again.....all within an hour. Do you get the picture. You can see the weather forecast below for today(thursday) thru Sunday, the end of the race. Of course this could all change again, and if so it can only get better. With rain looking certain for a good portion of the race, my game plan/racing strategy has got to change a little bit as it relates to my gear.

The start/finish line in Chamonix

Yesterday we all (Francisco, Curt, Ray, Laura, Tim, Scot and Barb) all met up at the health club(after going up Mont Blanc via gondola) where sign in and packet pick up was. We were able to get our BIB #'s, cool UTMB shirts and have our "obligatory gear" inspected. I failed inspection with my wind proof jacket trying to get by as a being "water-proof". So I grabbed a taxi and wen track to the chalet and grabbed my North Face Summit Series jacket, which I used in Leadville. Initially they rejected this jacket as well. I pleaded with the old french lady and she let me on through. We then got our backpacks chipped our bibs and complimentary fluorescent green UTMB shirts.

After getting all of our stuff we gathered outside and tried to decided on where to go for dinner. As luck would have it the skies opened up on us and we threw on our rain gear that was just inspected. I gave my NF Summit Series jacket to Laura while I put on my NF wind proof (the I thought was waterproof) jacket and waterproof pants. What I found out is that after standing in a torrential downpour for about 15 minutes that neither jacket was actually waterproof! Thank God for that rain. If that happened out on the course I would have gotten damp, wet and cold.

13,000+ feet a top of Mont Blanc via Gondola, breathtaking!!

Next we gathered at a local hotel where Patrick, a Denver native and friends with Ray, was staying for a beer and snacks waiting for the rain to stop before heading back out for dinner. We had dinner as Les Moraine with everybody, less Tim, Scot and Barb, plus Patrick and Kim (from TX who is doing the CCC, which is a 100k trail run starting on Friday morning). I had cod a glass of wine along with the some funny, light conversation.

It was about 10PM when we made it back to the chalet. A long day out sight seeing, getting gear and discussing race plans/strategies. After making a few biz calls I skyped the family to say a quick hello before crashing at about 12:15AM.

The game plan today is to grab breakfast, head into Chamonix to pick up some souvenirs, have a nice lunch back at the Chalet before heading out to the airport to pick up Daley, who arrives at 4:40PM. By then should have all of my gear organized and ready to chill out for the evening. Starting to get excited......

Cheers!

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France Weather

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Right Now

54^°F
Cloudy
Feels like 54°F

5 Day Forecast

Updated: Aug 30, 2012, 7:08am Local Time

TodayAug 30

60^°F

46^°F

Rain / Thunder

CHANCE OF RAIN:: 80%

WIND:: WSW at 6 mph

Details

FriAug 31

57^°

45^°

Rain

CHANCE OF RAIN:: 90%

WIND:: NNW at 8 mph

Details

SatSep 1

61^°

44^°

Rain

CHANCE OF RAIN:: 70%

WIND:: NNE at 6 mph

Details

SunSep 2

68^°

44^°

Partly Cloudy

CHANCE OF RAIN:: 10%

WIND:: NNE at 4 mph

Details

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Weather Watching

Ok, I can only say that I feel like an 80 year old retiree obsessed with weather right now. Not in Brentwood, but in Chamonix, Mont Blanc France. Ever since we've been 10 days out from the race I've been checking the weather and related patterns 3X per day! What I've determined is that predicting the weather is simply universal, you can't. They may try, really hard, but in the end it will be what it will be. Hmmm, if I put that on a Facebook page do you think that it would replace the annoying saying..."it is what it is?"

The first time that I checked, it showed Friday August 31, 2012 as being partly cloudy, lot's of sunshine and only a 20% chain of rain. Super cool fact...it's a FULL MOON both Friday and Saturday nights. For those of you who are night runners, I'm certain you can appreciate running under a FULL MOON, especially in the Alps. By the way, why don't we say "Alps" in the USA? I much prefer it over Mountains. Two syllables versus one, it would seem more efficient and it just sounds cool....kind of like "tits". Pretty easy to get distracted when your thinking about tits, but ok, back to the weather.

The second time that I checked the weather no change for Friday. When I next checked the forecast it called for rain and thunderstorms on Friday and rain on Saturday, an 80% chance on both days. This makes me wonder, how do they actually come up with a "% chance"? I can only picture in my mind's eye a couple of weather forecasters in tie dyed shirts, smoking a bong, playing with a weegie board to determine our fate in Mont Blanc. Thinking about running in the rain for 103+ miles in chilly weather makes a very difficult race, just that much harder. How much is "that"? It's a lot! It requires a little more planning to keep your feet, hands and head dry and warm.

Interestingly enough, there are mandatory gear requirements for this race. They include some of the following:

1. Survival blanket 1.4M x 2M minimum
2. Jacket with hood and made with waterproof (recommendation: minimum 10,000 Schmerber) and breathable (recommendation: RET more than 13) membrane (Gore-Tex or similar) which will with stand the bad weather in the mountains.
3. Additional warm mid layer top: (cotton is excluded) minimum weight 180g

This is by no means the entire list, but just a few of the items to address the potential weather issues that we may encounter. In previous years races they've had to delay and even cancel the event due to sever weather. It's so like the socialist culture of the french to require these minimums though. When I see these type of requirements it makes me think of government oversight and control. For all of you uneducated jack asses out there, this means big government, this means control, this mean democrat, which means higher taxes, less take home pay, because they know how to spend/invest your money better than you do. Sooooo get your ass out to vote in the next election....for ANYONE BUT, obama. Ok, I feel better now.

It's now Saturday morning and the weather like it tends to due, changed. Now they are calling for a 60% chance of rain on Friday that will continue through the night, what a waste of a FULL MOON. It's then suppose to clear and be mostly cloudy on Saturday with only a 20% chain of rain. Sunday, the day that we all hope to finish, is suppose to be beautiful with a 0% chance of rain. So it's looking like we have a rainy, cold start but the weather will improve. I'll take that over a warm start and then have it deteriorate over the course of the race, or is it the race course? In any event, probably should not have said that as it is now certain to do just that!

The obligatory gear, will most likely come in handy if we have the forecasted weather. I searched high and low for the "minimum 10,000 Schmerber" rain jacket. On my hunt for this gear at REI in Denver, the store personnel looked at me like I was crazy...."yes, you can help me...I'm looking for some rain gear, with a hood, that has at least 10,000 Schmerber". Keep in mind I'm at the Denver Flagship REI store. This is where every outdoor enthusiast would love to work. The people that work there are anything but normal, so I thought for certain that I was speaking their language when I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about..."you know the 10,000 Schmerber standard, a common standard used world wide for measuring the waterproofness of a jacket". His response to me was, "not in my world have I heard such a standard". By the time I was done at REI he had gathered every outdoor geek working in the department to see if they had heard of this standard. They were all intrigued. they asked me to spell it. Then, one of the guys googled it. Sure enough there was a Schmerber test/standard. Come to find out that "Schmerber" is a unit of measure for the impermeability of a fabric. It was pretty funny to see them all get excited about this. Today they had learned something new. Something that they could impress their friends with the next time that they were smoking a joint or climbing a mountain. All of this did me no good whatsoever because not one jacket had anything to signify how many Schmerbers it was. I ended up just buying a cool looking blue North Face jacket with a hood that I knew I could wear in the future. Hopefully the Chamonix Schmerber police will be on holiday when I get there.

Well I just checked the weather again and no change. So how is the weather in Brentwood. It's going to be a beautiful day. In Miami however they have Hurricane Isaac coming to town on Monday morning. That would be the Monday morning that I was suppose to be arriving there for business meetings. The hangover effects of the storm was to linger through Tuesday, shutting down all of the airports and wreaking havoc on the entire airline industry. As a result, my meetings were cancelled and instead of flying out of Miami on American Airlines, I switched to United Airlines form Nashville to Washington DC. Yes, I did check the weather in both cities on my departure date and it's suppose to be nice. I also chose a connecting flight with a 5 hour layover just to make certain that if we did get delayed due to the weather I'd have plenty of wiggle room to make my connecting flight to Geneva.

The weather. It's such a versatile topic. The most often use of weather is when you have absolutely nothing to say in a conversation so you bring up "the weather". So the next time that you find yourself doing this, save some time and energy and say nothing and just stare at the person. Treat it like a game, it's fun. They may think that you are a little weird, but who cares what they think. If you did then you would actually be having a conversation about everything else, but the weather.

Cheers!

CHAMONIX, MONT BLANC FRANCE